Prologue

I have visited Portugal regularly since 2006, usually with the For The Love Of Port Tours that my dear friend Roy Hersh runs. While Roy has a range of tours focused on from beginners all the way to experts, the Port Harvest Tour 2 is really the latter – an in-depth, fast-paced, immersive experience where we are tasting over 100 wines during the week, writing tasting notes, talking with winemakers about vineyard practices or winemaking approaches, and generally geeking out on something that we are all passionate about.

My family and close friends have heard me talking about Portugal literally for years, and they had expressed a desire to visit Portugal with me. In 2017, I organized a small friends and family trip that would include my wife Jody, her brother, her parents, and two of our close friends, Patti and Mike. I was excited to share with them the wonders of Portugal, Lisbon, Porto, and the Douro Valley. 

Day 1 – Sunday

The overnight flight from the US landed in Lisbon mid-morning. Jody’s brother and parents were on a separate flight that would arrive in the afternoon, so the two of us collected our bags and caught an Uber to our hotel, the Pestana CR7 Lisboa.

The Pestana CR7 Lisboa was created as a collaboration between legendary soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo and the Pestana Hotel Group. It is located in the Baixa Pombalina neighborhood of Lisbon, and is in close proximity to many of Lisbon’s key attractions. The lobby of the hotel pays homage to Ronaldo, with jerseys, photographs, and memorabilia from his remarkable career.

It was too early to check in, and we had several hours to kill before the rest of the family arrived. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were eager to begin exploring the area, so we dropped our bags off at the hotel and decided to take a walk down to the waterfront.

Our first stop was the Praça do Comércio, Lisbon’s main plaza. This grand plaza is surrounded on three sides by yellow Pombaline-style buildings, with the fourth side open to the Tejo Estuary. 

One of Portugal’s most important palaces, Paço da Ribeira, originally stood on this site until it was destroyed on November 1, 1755 (All Saints Day) by a massive earthquake and tsunami.

King Joseph I (José I), who was Portugal’s ruler at the time of the catastrophe, had ascended to the Portuguese throne after the death of his father King Dom John V in 1750. He was fond of opera and hunting and effectively turned the running of his government over to the powerful Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal. The Marquis had been gaining power as the King’s right-hand man and solidified his preeminence by organizing the rebuilding of Lisbon. This is also the same Marquis de Pombol who, in his effort to implement commercial and economic reforms in Portugal, ordered the demarcation of the Douro wine region in 1756.

Across the river we could see the Santuário de Cristo Rei momument (Sanctuary of Christ the King). It was inspired by the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was inaugurated in 1959.

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After walking around for a little while, we headed over to the Time Out Market to grab a bite to eat.

The building (Mercado da Ribeira) has been a landmark since the 1890s when it opened as an indoor market’s in the Cais do Sodré neighborhood. Time Out Market Lisboa opened inside the space in 2014 and features dozens of small food stalls from some of the top restaurants in Lisbon. 

After lunch, we headed back to the CR7 Hotel, checked in, and soon were meeting up with Michael, Sylvia, and John who had just arrived to the hotel from the airport.

Since we were all a little travel-weary, we decided we would find a nice café for a quick bite so that everyone could get come back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. We were all excited about the adventures that lay ahead of us.